SAARC NETWORK  

The "Regional Conference on Globalization and Agriculture: Challenges for South Asia" was organized in New Delhi on December 4-5, 2002 jointly by RIS, New Delhi and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Colombo, in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC as a part of the mandate given to RIS and IPS by the SAARC Network of Researchers on Global, Financial and Economic Issues at its Fourth Meeting held in New Delhi on 22-23 March 2001. The Conference was supported by the SAARC-Japan Special Fund of the SAARC Secretariat.

Dr. S. P. Gupta, Member, Planning Commission, inaugurated the conference. Dr. Saman Kelegama, Executive Director, IPS; Dr. Ashok Gulati, Division Director, IFPRI; Mr. R. O. Wallang, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs; and Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Director General, RIS also addressed the inaugural session. Sessions were chaired by Ambassador S.T. Devere; Dr. V.R. Panchamukhi, Chairman, ICSSR; Mr. Tilak Collure, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Sri Lanka; Dr. G.K. Chadha, Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr. Saman Kelegama, Executive Director, IPS (Sri Lanka); Prof. Muchkund Dubey, President, CSD (New Delhi); and Mr. Md. Abdus Satter, Director, BARI (Bangladesh). More than 75 participants including delegations from SAARC countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and other experts from different stakeholders such as government, industry, NGOs, academia, WTO, IFAD, (Rome), IFPRI, World Bank, media, etc. took part.

The Conference covered discussion on the issues arising from the WTO Agreements, namely Agreement on Agriculture, SPS/TBT and TRIPs for the South Asian Agriculture in the context of preparations for the ongoing WTO negotiations and the forthcoming Ministerial Conference at Cancun in September. The Report of Conference has been circulated to the SAARC Secretariat and the relevant Ministries for follow-up.

Regional Conference on Globalization and Agriculture:
Challenges for South Asia